The present invention relates to a container for food products and more particularly to a paperboard container which enables the food product to be handled in a sanitary and convenient fashion. In its preferred embodiment, the container of the present invention is designed for holding Pita bread, which in its most common form is a folded over or hollowed out loaf of bread into which one places salad or other filling materials.
The container disclosed herein is designed primarily for the carryout, fast food business although it could readily find utility in the home or at picnics or other places where food products are eaten by hand. The growth in recent years of the fast food industry has created a great demand for containers for holding, packaging and otherwise enclosing food products for take out or on premises consumption. A significant advantage of such containers lies in the convenience they provide the consumer for permitting consumption directly from the container and later easy disposal of the used container. The vast variety of food products currently being marketed virtually prohibits the use of a universal container for packaging all kinds of products, thus custom made containers are required for the different products.
It is known, for instance, to provide various styles of hand held containers or sandwich holders for the most common carryout products such as hamburgers, cheeseburgers and roast beef sandwiches. The following prior U.S. Pat. Nos. show several different designs for sandwich holders; 3,003,207; 3,355,082; 3,446,416; and 3,610,512. Nevertheless, none of the prior art style containers have been found to be particularly satisfactory with the food products intended for the container of the present invention.
Pita bread is a typical product found in Greek restaurants and carryout stands. The bread is generally baked as a round, flat loaf. The loaf is cut or torn in half, and the two halves hollowed out to provide space wherein the consumer may put salad or other fillings to make a tasty and convenient hand held food product. In the past, the consumer has been required to hold the hollowed out loaf of Pita bread in one hand while filling it with the other. This procedure has contributed to unsanitary conditions and hazardous spills of filling materials, juices and condiments.
Thus, in order to overcome these inconveniences, the container of the present invention was developed to provide the consumer with a reliable, safe and sanitary food holder for Pita bread or the like.